In light of his recent scandal, the nation is looking at New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. After the initial shock of his scandal wore off, I first began mulling over the fact that high-priced prostitute is an oxymoron G? then I noticed his wife. I get so tired of seeing a man fall from grace with his wife standing dutifully by his side, stuck in a daze, at a news conference.
I understand marriage vows, but he broke those long ago. I believe that when you marry someone, you enter into a blood covenant and become one body. But if my arm gets a mind of its own and starts lingering near the fire, it's time to let that arm go.
Spitzer spent tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes, a law enforcement official told The New York Times, subjecting his wife to every disease known to man including the deadly virus known as HIV. He embarrassed his family and the entire state of New York. He even would still be involved if it weren't for The New York Times exposing him red-handed (ironically, the same newspaper who made the mistake about John McCain; apparently they hit the jackpot with this one).
So while it may seem a noble thing for a woman to stand by her man in the face of even the most egregious scandals, it is actually an extremely bad example. What message are we sending to the young girls in this country who look up to these prominent women? There is a lot of talk about athletes and musicians being bad influences on the men in this country. However, some of these people, especially musicians, can be passed off as ignorant. What is there to make of a Harvard Law graduate standing by a man too stupid to at least cover his own butt? Pride and arrogance rightly placed him where he is today ' in a place of public humiliation and shame. But what about her? What places her next to him, causing her to shame her own daughters and look like a fool? Love? Really?
Young women may look to her and wrongly decide to stand by their own cheating, heartless jerk they call their husband or boyfriend. If Mrs. Spitzer can make it through that, then young women think they should too.
However, I'm not coming down on just Spitzer. She's only following the lead of so many women before her. Mrs. Spitzer even wore a baby blue pantsuit like former New Jersey Governor James McGreevy's wife. Hillary Clinton was famously loyal to her husband in the face of several affairs. But no one can be confused about Hillary's rationale ' political gain, period. She didn't care what example she set back then so she could run for president today ... congratulations.
I'm not saying these women should join with the masses in calling for the head of their own husbands. I am saying it is about time some woman stood up and said she isn't going to take it anymore. For all the feminist cries for equality, why do we stop short from publicly denouncing our own husbands for something as horrendous as a prostitution ring, an affair in the Oval Office, lying under oath (mayor of Detroit) or sleeping with men? Instead of taking the time to stand up for themselves and their children, these women retreat to the powerless, pitiful stance two steps behind their husbands at a press conference. Even occasionally holding hands (imagine where Spitzer's hands have been ... at five thousand dollars a pop, they better have been somewhere great). Some of these women do eventually leave their husbands, albeit privately. And that's not a happy day for anyone. But you would think after being subject to the pain of a widely publicized, extended affair with random women, the wife would have something to say at a press conference or anywhere public. Anything. Or, maybe these women would take the liberty to stay home in protest. They don't follow their husbands to every other speaking engagement. Why go to this one?
If women want to stand behind abhorrent men, that's their prerogative. Forgiving the inexcusable is no simple task, even for the saints among us. But I think the next time a politician finds himself in the muck of a scandal with his pants around his ankles, his wife should find a voice and say, That's enough! But maybe it's just me.
Alissa Griffith is a junior journalism major. Send her an e-mail at ag180505@ohiou.edu.
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Alissa Griffith
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